The Bill Graham Farm Village

Location:  401 East 65th Street, Hialeah (at Amelia Earhart Park)

Hours: Sunrise to Sunset
Admission:  FREE

Overview

Old McDonald had a farm--but it sure wasn't like this one! "Bill Graham Farm Village" is a fancifully re-created Miami-Dade County homestead combining features of pioneer farms from the turn of the century with some pleasant modern additions such as an air-conditioned Country Store and a Demonstration Hall. The Farm Village was created to provide today's urbanized children an opportunity to learn about Miami-Dade County's agricultural past by visiting a replica of the kinds of farms that once dotted three-quarters of the region.

Park patrons can enter the farm through a bougainvillea-covered trellis and head over to the Barn with its petting area. Once there you can pet live cows, horses, ponies, goats, chickens, pigs, sheep, geese and a donkey or two.

The Demonstration Shed is the place to go to see such typical farm activities as horseshoeing, cow milking, livestock judging and sheep shearing.

Earhart Hall is a large meeting room for lectures, exhibits on early farm implements and other displays, home canning classes, organic gardening and the like. To the left of Earhart Hall is the Crop Area, where more than two acres are planted with a variety of vegetables and over-sized sunflowers.

Beyond the Hall is a boiling shed and a sugar cane press that processes sugar cane syrup, the kind our grandfathers refined into molasses and brown sugar. Follow your nose to the Smokehouse, which turns out fragrant hams and savory smoked turkey. It's right next to the Farm's own Babbling Brook.

The pony ring, on the side of the Barn, is equipped with benches for weary parents to sit and rest while watching their kids ride a pony, jump into a big haystack or "drive" an old tractor.

The Country Store is surrounded by a shady welcoming porch and is stocked with lots of goodies. It even has its own post office. Then there's the old Fishing Rock, where you can cast a line into a freshwater lake stocked with big, fat bass.

Old McDonald would be amazed, but right at home. "Bill Graham's Farm Village" -- a real place, only better!

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